Maryam Rajavi Addresses Human Rights Conference in Germany

Horrifying Massacre of Prisoners in Iran and the Need for Action by the International Community

Honorable lawmakers,
Distinguished personalities,
I thank you for your attention to the situation in Iran.
Today I want to talk about a fundamental issue that is the horrifying massacre in prisons.
In a new record of atrocities, the clerical regime hanged at least 285 prisoners in October 2025, including 7 women, and one minor who was less than 18 years old at the time of committing the offense.

People’s Growing Fury and Instability in the Regime

Three years ago, during a major uprising, the people of Iran called for the overthrow of this regime.
After that, the regime’s supreme leader turned to regional warmongering to prevent another uprising.

Yet today, Khamenei is surrounded by the anger of the Iranian people.
The people of Iran are fed up with repression, poverty, injustice, and the endless corruption of government institutions.
They do not want the nation’s wealth, including its oil revenue, to be wasted. They refuse to see Khamenei and his Revolutionary Guards spend most of the country’s income on oppression, war, and nuclear and missile programs.
In step with deep discontent in society, internal conflicts among the regime’s factions have intensified.
The regime’s former president, mullah Hassan Rouhani, in an unprecedented admission, said that the current parliament enjoys only 10 percent of the people’s votes. This figure matches the one previously announced by the National Council of Resistance of Iran about voters’ participation in the regime’s parliamentary elections.
In response, members of parliament have called for his arrest.

Collapse of the Economy and the Regime’s Inability to Contain the Crises

The regime is suffering from fundamental instability. It can no longer control the continuous collapse of the national economy. Nor does it have the strength to contain the growing chaos in public services.
Severe shortages of electricity, water, and gas have crippled parts of the country’s production, education, and administration.
Over the past year, food prices have risen by 65 percent, and the national currency has become one of the weakest in the world. At the same time, this regime cannot be reformed. All its factions have one thing in common: the repression of Iranian people to guarantee the regime’s survival.

Escalation of Executions to Stave Off Popular Uprisings

Khamenei is deeply afraid of this situation. To prevent future uprisings, he has resorted to carrying out even more executions.
At the same time, to confront the progress of the Iranian people’s Resistance, the regime has sentenced a number of political prisoners to death on charges of membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran.
All these sentences were issued in violation of the most basic standards of fair trial.
Ehsan Faridi is a 22-year-old student imprisoned by the regime. His lawyer revealed that the regime’s judiciary rejected his request for retrial in less than an hour, without even reading it.
Another political prisoner is Mrs. Zahra Tabari whose so-called trial, was held through a video conference, lasting only ten minutes.
If this regime were to observe international standards for a fair trial, the very foundation of its rule would collapse.
A few months ago, political prisoners Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani were executed on charges of supporting the PMOI.

The No to Execution Campaign and the Voice of Resistance inside Iran

In response to the clerical regime’s increasing executions to counter the people’s uprising and terrorize the public, the Iranian Resistance has since long ago called for an international campaign against executions.
Prisoners in 54 prisons have been going on hunger strike for 93 weeks on No to Execution Tuesdays.
Teachers, workers, nurses, retirees, and other sectors of our compatriots hold placards of “No to Death Penalty” in their protests. They say, “Do not try to scare us by executing prisoners before our eyes.”
We call on the international community to support this movement.
Terrorizing the public with the hanging noose must be stopped.

Exiled Iranians under Pressure; Call on European Governments

On the other hand, the NCRI office in Germany has received reports from dozens of Iranians who live in Germany that because of their support for the PMOI and because of participating in the Resistance’s events, their families in Iran have been pressured by the regime and they themselves have been received threats in Germany.
On behalf of the Iranian Resistance, we call on Germany and other member states of the European Union to:
– Refer the case of human rights violations in Iran to the United Nations Security Council;
– Use the principle of universal jurisdiction to hold the regime’s leaders and officials accountable for crimes against humanity and genocide;
– And pressure the regime to allow the United Nations, and other human rights organizations to visit prisons and prisoners in Iran, especially political prisoners.

The People’s Right to Defense and Struggle for a Democratic Republic

Dear friends,
The mullahs’ religious tyranny will not abandon the three core pillars of its rule until it is overthrown. These pillars are executions, torture, and repression inside Iran, warmongering and terrorism abroad; and the program to build an atomic bomb.
Events over the past year have shown that these policies can only be stopped by the overthrow of the regime by the Iranian people and their organized resistance.
Therefore, recognizing the Iranian people’s struggle to overthrow the mullahs’ dictatorship is an urgent necessity.
When prisons have become killing fields, the young people who have risen up have the right to defend their people.
When people are killed for taking part in street protests, they have the right to defend themselves.
Now that the reactivation of the UN Security Council resolutions has once again placed the mullahs’ regime under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, as a threat to global peace and security, the people living under its rule must have the right to defend themselves.
We urge the governments of the European Union and all world governments to recognize this just and long-ignored right.
We are fighting for a democratic republic and our people’s sovereignty.
As the Leader of the Iranian Resistance, Massoud Rajavi, reiterated in his recent message: “We want to reclaim our country. We want freedom for our enchained people. And we won’t rest until this is realized.”